Today marks the first full session that focus has been shifted almost entirely to the October WTI futures contract. This month’s rollover between the September and October offering from the CME has been somewhat complex, taking about three days to complete. However, traders are now trading October WTI at about a 20/1 clip over the September contract.

All in all, the September/October rollover has been good for WTI pricing. Bids have hit the market near $55.00, driving intraday highs just north of $56.00. While WTI is very weak with respect to traditional seasonality, prices are still about $5.00 north of August lows.

WTI Futures Back In Business At $55.00

It is no secret that big round numbers are huge in the crude oil markets. For October WTI crude oil futures, $50.00 and $55.00 are the current psyche levels worth watching.

Here are two daily resistance levels for this market to keep an eye on:

• Resistance(1): Bollinger MP, $55.50
• Resistance(2): Daily SMA, $55.96

Overview: At the moment, October WTI futures are trading in a key make-or-break technical area. Prices have momentarily rejected topside resistance at the Daily SMA and Bollinger MP. If these levels hold up for the rest of the session, then we may see WTI trade much lower ahead of this week’s inventories.

Conversely, today’s sentiment toward oil is positive. Should October WTI futures close above these topside resistance levels, then a run at last week’s high ($57.40) may come into play. Either way, be on the lookout for a directional move ahead of Tuesday’s API Crude Oil Stocks report.